Sweatshops and the exploitation of workers are often linked to the globalised production of ‘big brand’ labels. This unit examines how campaigners have successfully closed the distance between the brands and the sweatshops, while others argue that such production ‘kick starts’ economies into growth benefiting whole communities.

This unit is an adapted extract from the Open University course Author(s): The Open University

Atoms without much thermal energy will not be doing very much. Consider fifty million million million (50 × 1018) silicon atoms, bonded into a single massive network; I've chosen silicon, but any elemental solid would do. It will be a speck just large enough to be seen without a microscope. You know that if it is heated it will expand, at some stage it will melt and then eventually it will vaporise – that is because thermal energy effectively 'rattles it to bits'. Having thermal

The temperature-dependent effects used in most thermometers have a fairly steady change over a good range of temperature (Figure 3a). By contrast, phase changes, of which melting and boiling are the common examples, happen at sharply critical temperatures (Author(s):

Next on the list of priorities in the functioning of groups is the process of group development. One popular conception of the way in which groups 'gel' and become effective was first suggested by Tuckman (1965) and then extended by Tuckman and Jensen (1977). Tuckman originally identified four stages in this development process, which he named 'forming', 'storming', 'norming' and 'performing'. These stages (see Author(s):

Because work groups are of central significance in the functioning of an organisation they have been studied intensively, and much has been written about group processes. In this reading it would be inappropriate to attempt to review this vast literature, which covers an enormous range of topics and aspects of groups. Instead, I focus attention here on two particular aspects of groups. First, I examine the nature of the contracts within a group: what it is that people gain from belonging to a

This course introduces the important distinction between our analogue world of colour, sound, taste and touch and the computer's peculiar binary world of digital entities. Concepts of the analogue universe in which we live and the digital world we create are explained. The way in which information, in the form of text, still and moving images, and sound can cross the boundary from the analogue universe into a digital world is explored.

Many people now have internet connections and this offers many benefits to both businesses and their customers.

From a customer's point of view, e-commerce has a number of advantages. Shopping can be done from home; you can probably find what you need without trudging from one shop to another and waiting in queues. You can also purchase goods 24 hours a day, every day.

From the point of view of a business, e-commerce also offers a number of advantages. There is a potentially wide

The first computer block represents the checkout terminal. The processes at the checkout (receiving, storing, retrieving, manipulating and sending data to the user), are the same as I described earlier. However, the checkout terminal also sends data via the supermarket's network.

The charts about different modes of transport and that on attendance figures at a range of cultural events all use what might be called ‘word categories’. Each category (e.g. bus, rail, cycle, and walk) is quite distinct from any other in the set of categories. Such distinct categories are known in mathematics as ‘discrete variables’.

Word categories are not the only type of variable that is discrete; numbers can also be discrete. For example, at the beginning of this section, w

The purposes of scientific enquiry are to describe, explain, predict and control (Reaves, 1992). Through scientific training, natural curiosity is developed into objective, empirical (experience-based) study involving observations and controlled experiments which constitute the methods of scientific enquiry that lead to scientific knowledge.

Author(s): The Open University

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CAM users may seek a very different type of therapeutic relationship from those they experience with orthodox practitioners. Some people may want to spend more time with a CAM practitioner than they do with their GP, to have more say in determining the frequency of access to practitioners, to have more control over what happens in the consultation room, and to have more choice about the treatments they are given.

In any therapeutic encounter, people want to be treated with respect, to b

Nigeria's Jonathan concedes to president-elect Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has conceded defeat to president-elect Muhammadu Buhari, according to former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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Video shows rescue of missing US sailor Coast Guard video shows a sailor being hoisted into helicopter during rescue mission after 66 days missing at sea. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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‘Writing what you know’ is a large and rich project, one that provides an endless resource, and one that can be undertaken in all the types of writing discussed in this course – poetry, fiction and life writing. The skill lies in reawakening your senses to the world around you, and then using what you find with discrimination. By realising the potentials of your own life experience, you will be collecting the materials necessary in order to write. ‘Writing what you know’ can amount

Filipina convict spared from Indonesia executions, Filipinos rejoice Activists holding an overnight vigil outside the Indonesian Embassy in Manilla are overjoyed by the news that the Filipino migrant's execution has been delayed. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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Reuters tells the world's stories like no one else. As the largest international multimedia news provider, Reuters provides coverage around the globe and across topics including business, finAuthor(s): No creator set